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' "(No Model.)

A .GQJ'OHNSON. TOOL BORCUTTING WALL PAPER- OR OTHER MATERIALS.. No. 463,838.

PatentedNov. 24, 1891.

ALEXANDER G. JOHNSON, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

TOOL FOR CUTTING WAL L-PAPER OR OTHER MATERIALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 463,838, dated November 24, 1891.

Application filed May 7, 1889.- Serial No. 309.929- (No model.)

-To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER G. J OHN- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city,county, and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tools for Cutting VVall-Paper or other Materials, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to tools for cutting wall-paper, window-shades, and like materials, and particularly to that class of tools wherein a cutting-blade is carried by a head having guiding surfaces adapted to slide against a straight-edge during the operation of cutting.

The object of my invention is to simplify and improve such tools and to provide a tool which can be more generally and convenicntly used than those heretofore made.

To this end in carrying out my inventionI construct my cutting-tool with an adjustable handle, which can be adapted to the requirements of different workmen, and I construct the head of the tool with a presser lug or projeetion, on which the user can exert pressure without danger of being cut by the blade. I also construct my tool so that it can be used with any ordinary straight-edge and so that frictional contact between the tool and the straight-edge will be reduced to the minimum, and I provide simple and effective means for preventing too great an oscillation of the tool.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention in its preferred form, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved cutting-tool, showing it in connection with a straight-edge as it would appear in the operation of cutting. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, looking at the opposite side to that shown in Fig. l and showing the handle in a horizontal position. Fig. 3 is a plan thereof. Fig. 4 is an end elevation thereof, showing the handle at an upright position. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the head of the tool cut on the line 5 5 in Figs. 2 and 3.

Referring to all the drawings, let A indicate the tool as a whole, and B an ordinary straight-edge.

Let 0 represent the head of the tool; D, the cutting-blade carried by said head and maintaining a'constant and uniform relation thereto, and E the operating-handle.

The head 0 is preferably made of a single casting of metal and is constructed with a recess a on one side,in which recess is mounted The outer face of the cutting-blade D is flat and is in approximately the same plane with the guiding-faces b b, so that when these faces are placed against the straight-edge the outting-blade D will come close against the latter, and as the tool is moved it will cut the material in a line close to the edge of the straightedge.

For operating the tool I providethe adj ustable handle E, which is pivoted to a projection d on the upper part of the head C, preferably by a screw 6. The handle E is provided with a flattened metallic endf, which rests against the flat side of the projection d on the head G, and which is provided with a hole for receiving the screw 6. The head C and handle E are pivotally connected together in such manner that the handle maybe turned to project in different directions relatively to the head, and the respective members of the pivotal connection are formed with reciprocal provisions for interengagement at different radial positions of the handle, and the pivotal screw 6 is adapted to draw the members together, and thereby to effect the positive engagement of the reciprocal provisions. This I prefer to accomplish by providing the end f of the handle Ewith tangential faces g g and by providing the head 0 with a shoulder h, adapted, when the handle is set in position, to engage with the tangential face g corresponding to the position at which the handle is set,

and thereby when the screw e draws-the handle E against the headO to effect the positive engagement of the handle and head, as best seen in Fig. 1. By this pivotal connection the user can adj ust the handle of the tool relatively to the head thereof to suit his convenience. Thus the tool can be adapted to suit either a right-handed or a left-handed operator, or the user may set the handle vertically on the tool or at an angle of forty-five degrees or horizontally.

For preventing the oscillation of the head C around the axis of the blade D, I provide stops it above the guiding-faces Z) I). These stops i i project horizontally from the faces sufliciently to stand above the top of the straight-edge when the tool is used, and are so arranged that they are normally out of contact with the top of the straight-edge, but upon the oscillation of the tool one or the other of them will strike the top of the straight-edge before the head G has been tilted sufficiently to bring its projecting ends against the material being cut. This is important, as the material being cut is likely to be torn if any part of the head comes in con tact therewith during the cutting operation.

In order to enable the user to exert pressure on the cutting-blade D in addition to that transmitted through the handle E and to apply this pressure close to the blade, I provide a ledge or thumb-piece j on the head 0. This ledge projects outwardly from the side of the head 0 directly over the cutting-blade D, and is so constructed that the user while holding the handle E in his hand can place his forefinger on the ledge j and exert a downward and guiding pressure directly over the blade D without danger of being cut by the latter even if his finger should slip off.

In usingmy improved cutter the straightedge B is placed on the material to be cut and the tool A is placed with the guiding-faces Z) Z) against the vertical edge of the straightedge. The handle E is grasped by the hand of the operator, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and the tool is moved along the straight-edge, sufficient pressure being exerted downwardlyon the tool to force the cutting-blade D through the material.

I prefer to form a lug or projection 7,: on the side of the head 0 opposite to the recess a in order to give a suflicient depth of metal for receiving the screw-threaded end of the pivotal stud c on which the blade D is carried.

I claim as my invention the following defined novel features or combinations substantially as hereinbefore specified, viz:

1. In a cuttingtool, a head formed with guiding faces adapted to slide against a straight-edge, and with a shoulder h and a rotary cutter journaled in said head, in combination with a projecting handle pivotally connected by a screw to the head and having its pivotal end formed with tangential faces g g, each adapted, when the handle is in the position corresponding to it, to fit against said shoulder, and the pivotal screw for drawing the parts together, substantially as set forth.

2. In a cutting-tool, the combination, with a cutting-blade, of a head carrying it and constructed with guiding-faces b b on its side adapted to slide against a straight-edge, and with stops t' i projecting from said faces on opposite sides of said cutting-blade and extending over and above said straight-edge when in use, said stops '5 'i being normally out of contact with the straight-edge when in use, but adapted to come in contact therewith in case the tool is tilted, substantially as set forth. v

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AIJEXANDER G. JOHNSON.

\Vitnesses:

GEORGE II. FRASER, CHARLES K. FRASER. 

